


Seven Steps to Your Lasat/Human Relationship

by youthwillnotendure



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:20:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25717192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youthwillnotendure/pseuds/youthwillnotendure
Summary: 7 short chapters detailing how Alexsandr Kallus and Garazeb Orrelios manage to keep their relationship going despite everything.
Relationships: Alexsandr Kallus/Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios
Comments: 27
Kudos: 54





	1. Step 1: Admitting that a guy like him is almost impossible to find

It was a very rare moment that the two of them got to shed their respective masks and just be around each other. It was enough to take Zeb’s breath away, seeing Alexsandr sitting at the bar looking so casual, without his ISB uniform and looking for all the world like he was just another poor soul that somehow managed to land himself a place on this planet. Zeb had changed his usual overalls for some old rough clothes he had lying about on the Ghost for undercover work and nights like this.  
“Two of whatever he’s drinking.” He called out to the bartender, sitting down on the conveniently empty stool next to Alexsandr. He placed the credits down on the bar and gave his newly found drinking buddy a grin, “unless you’ve got somewhere else to be?” At the resulting head shake he slid the drink over to him, “Then here. On me.”  
It was safer for them to stay there on the bar stools for a short time before retreating to one of the booths where they could properly position themselves to survey the patrons of the establishment. They could drink and talk like friends, only a small amount of fear at the Empire managing to catch them. It made a nice change from the hurried kisses and fake fights they were used to. It was easier in a booth to press himself close to the human under the guise of being heard more clearly, the table would hide the hand on Alexsandr’s knee and if he occasionally snuck in a nuzzle to Alex’s cheek then it was probably just a trick of the faulty lighting above them.  
“You could come with me.”  
“Zeb - no. I can’t.” Alexsandr said, voice just loud enough to be heard. He pressed his leg more firmly against his Lasat’s, “I couldn’t. There’s too much still left to be done here.” The offer always broke his heart into pieces and made it that bit harder to fling insults at his love when the situation called for it. It always hurt for their illusion of being just two random space farers that managed to wind up on the same planet and want some company to be torn down, for him to feel like ice cold water had been chucked over him and he was drowning in it. “I can’t just leave. You would be in too much danger.”  
They had been over this argument time and time again. Sometimes between the rushed kisses and traded insults, other times like this when they could have kept the illusion of being just two other people. At least in his role as ISB-021 he could throw suspicion away from the Ghost crew, leave them openings and escape routes to take. He would not risk the life of his family, especially not now.  
Zeb drained the rest of his drink and nodded; good men were hard to find, men who had made the choice to do good while they risked everything like Alexsandr were rarer. “Until next time.” He said quietly, putting the glass down on the table as he stood up, eyes fixed on the exit like they had simply found each other too incompatible to spend any longer trying. If only they knew he was walking away for the exact opposite reason.

~~~~~~

**A/N:**  
 _The best thing 'bout tonight's that we're not fighting  
Could it be that we have been this way before?  
I know you don't think that I am trying  
I know you're wearing thin down to the core_  
The song that inspired this chapter is Fall For You by Secondhand Serenade. This is the first Kalluzeb piece I've written and there are 7 planned chapters. Not necessarily posting in the order I wanted to originally, but I'm looking forward to it. 


	2. Step 2: Avoid detection from the Empire by fighting him

The very last thing Garazeb Orrelios, former Captain of the Lasan Honour Guard and current muscle of the Ghost crew, expected to hear during a mission was his native language. He expected to hear it the middle of a fight against an ISB agent on one of their ships even less. About the only thing that didn’t come as a surprise to him was that it was Agent Kallus fighting against him while trying to make it look more showy and like a real fight than it was. Their Fulcrum knew how to make a fake fight look good, taunting him and keeping the actual flirting they loved to share during sparring sessions to a minimum. 

“ _-ni ashkerra_ ”. Zeb caught the end of the sentence and involuntarily stopped, Kallus’ bo-rifle swinging around to hit him full force in the face. He stayed still as Kallus brought the rifle back around to hit him again, giving him a very obvious look of worry. 

“You can’t know what that means. You shouldn’t be using our language” He eventually managed to growl out, hoping that Kallus understood. It wasn’t that he shouldn’t be using the language for any reason, but more that he shouldn’t have been able to learn enough to pronounce that phrase that well and be able to keep it a secret from him. “You’ll pay for this.” Zeb stepped out of the way of a third blow, maneuvering the two of them into an area that the cameras would have difficulty picking up anything that they said. “ _Ni ashkerra._ You were slightly off.” He corrected gently, looking at Alexsandr with nothing but love in his eyes and a blaster aimed at the ISB agent’s head. “But my ride’s about to leave without me, so the lesson will have to wait until next time.”


	3. Be Caught Singing to A Small Child

It was a miracle that they had managed to save the young Twi'lek girl. A building ready to collapse, an exhausted set of Rebels and a child too afraid to move more than a couple of steps at a time all spelled disaster, but somehow they had pulled it off. She had instantly become fascinated with Zeb. Wherever he went, she would want to follow. He was the only one who could coax her out of the house, picking her up one handed and running back to the Ghost, eager to get her to safety.

Hera was instantly smitten with their guest, being the first one to work out her name while the others confirmed what they had already guessed. The girl's parents were dead and there was no way that they were letting the Empire get a hold of her. She was too precious. Tann - their little proof that hope lived on in the world.

The others quickly followed suit, Sabine and Ezra offering to take babysitting duty to give the adults a break more often than not. Kanan could be found sitting on the floor, entertaining Tann with Force tricks. Even Chopper got in on the fun once he learned that shocking the other crew members would get a laugh from the Twi'lek.

It didn't take the others to fall for her charms once they had made it back to base. Within a day everyone was wrapped around her tiny finger. Within a week she had been completely spoiled rotten with toys, blankets and trinkets she could hopefully keep once they had found a way to get her settled with a family away from the influence of the Empire.

Alexsandr had missed the main part of the action, returning from a mission to find everyone enamoured with Tann. "I should defect back to the Empire if all it takes to bring a rebellion to its knees is the attentions of one small child." He commented dryly, reaching out to play with her despite himself. An hour later saw the former ISB Agent holding the Twi'lek in his arms and singing to her softly. Hera bit her lip when she opened the door to one of the base's common rooms and almost disrupted the scene. Instantly she pulled out a holorecorder and pointed it at the two of them.

"Dédawang ta da salta da ultim fo mi Gonya dansa ere da setara…. Wang diye beltalowda gonya ferí…"

She backed out of the room slowly, sending the file over to Zeb with Alexsandr's singing still faintly in the background. She wasn't sure how he knew the old space farer's s folk song, things like that were usually kept away from being common knowledge by the Empire. The one thing she did know was that Zeb had that holo saved already and would be asking him to sing more often with a voice like that.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _That was my last jump I will dance among the stars ... One day we Belters will be free_
> 
> I wanted a language other than English for Alexsandr to sing to the lil girl in and chose Lang Belta, the song used in this chapter is one that I found online by _OaktownPirate_ on Reddit, you can find the song on Soundcloud under _Da Kuxaku Bik_ and it's called _Pampa (Dansa Ere Da Setara)_. The language from the Expanse appealed to me mostly because it's a conlang I'm interested in and have been attempting to learn and also it's from a group of people in space who are looked down upon and treated unfairly by those on Earth and Mars. 


	4. Learn His Language

There were some phrases that Alexsandr Kallus could never forget hearing. Cries of “no, please” and mothers begging for their children’s lives to be spared, to take them instead. Some of those were in basic, some were Twi’leki in origin but most were Lasana. When he closed his eyes he could see a small Lasat child clinging to their mother, mostly hidden by her but still looking at him as he readied to shoot. It was a shame he had to bear and a part of him never wanted to learn the language so he wouldn’t actually know what each of those people had begged him that day. He didn’t want to know that some of the men he killed were telling their wives to run and take the children to cover, they would find them. He didn’t want to know any of it.  
Until Garazeb Orrelios came along, whispering what he could only assume were terms of endearment in his ear, pressing kisses and smiling against his hair. Until Garazeb Orrelios started talking to him in Lasana whenever he was half awake in the mornings and before he could remind himself that Alexsandr didn’t understand.  
It made him want to understand and be able to reply more than ever. Which is how he ended up sat on the floor with Chava, wincing in pain as she hit him over the head yet again. “You’re not paying attention. No more Belter instead. Basic and Lasana only.” They had been at it for at least an hour and while he was happy he had found a teacher who was willing to be patient with him, even if he did keep substituting words he didn’t know with the Belter equivalent. It wasn’t his fault that Lasana seemed to have less specific words for space travel than he was used to. _Séping_ just worked to describe artificial gravity that came from the centrifugal force of spinning a space station. It wasn’t his fault the sentence he was creating led him into that. _Kapawu_ for a space ship was the same. But if this meant he could tell Zeb that he loved him properly, in the Lasat’s own language then Alexsandr would go through the ordeal of being hit on the head several more times.  
“Fine, fine. I’ll try that again. Garazeb, _Ashvahn ni malmanahn, L'ashkerrir an._ ” He winced in preparation for the next strike, closing his eyes. When a minute passed and nothing came he opened his eyes again cautiously to see Chava smiling at him.  
“Good. You’re learning. Now, again.”  
He had never expected much after he had defected from the Empire. Maybe getting to serve with the Rebels for a short time, perhaps being imprisoned by them. He had certainly doubted their ability to win, even if their victory was small, it was a start and they had gained an impressive amount of hope for the future from it. The thing he had expected least was to be brought to Lira San by Zeb, getting to see more Lasat that had survived. He finally had a chance to make things right, and he’d start by learning their language. Learning how to tell Zeb that he loved him for the first time in his partner’s own language.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All Lasana comes from Anath_Tsurugi and all Lang Belta is from The Expanse, the conlang created by Nick Farmer.


	5. Spar with Him

It wasn’t easy to pick up a bo-rifle again and stare down a Lasat, especially when he knew that he was never going to win this fight. A crowd had started to gather around the two of them when the others had realised just who was fighting. 

Alexsandr Kallus and Garazeb Orrelios, sparring with each other again in the middle of the town. Best two out of three they had agreed after the last one had ended with the two of them being attacked by the kits had decided to swarm them. The fighting simply couldn’t continue when they each had three young Lasat dangling from their arms so they had stopped, put their rifles down, laughing, and tried to distract the kits with sweets and toys. 

This time there were no kits able to worm their way through the crowd, they were all safely held by their parents or hanging from a nearby tree, eager to get the best view of the match.   
“You just going to stand there? Or are you going to fight me?”   
“I’m going to win.” 

And they were off, launching themselves at each other. Zeb’s face split into a large grin when he heard the cheers for each of them split evenly among the crowd, some of the more experienced fighters calling out advice on his weaker spots to Alexsandr. Five years ago he would have never expected to be on a new planet, one he could call home, with his boyfriend beside him. They were often found babysitting for the others; Alexsandr loved to help take care of the kits, even if he did spoil them rotten. They also loved to provide entertainment like this, sparring or telling stories of the rebellion (all with parental approval and censored enough to not give anyone nightmares). 

Zeb got a lucky shot in to Alexsandr’s leg, knocking him off balance. He laughed as the crowd boo’d at him, pointing the bo-rifle at Alexandr’s face, “Give in?” 

“Never!” Alexsandr cried out, winking at his boyfriend as he knocked the bo-rifle away and swiped at Zeb’s legs, causing him to fall on the ground as well. “Draw?” He grinned, hearing the groans of disappointment from the kits who wanted to see who would win. Zeb nodded, pushing himself to his feet and helping Alexsandr up as well. “Best three out of five?”


	6. Defect from the Empire and Join the Rebels

Alexsandr picked up the Lasat kit that had been following him around all morning asking all manner of questions ranging from the simple “what are you doing?” to “how did you meet Zeb?” and “why do you have no fur and live with us?”. It was cute at first but very quickly could start to turn annoying so he was left with three options, one, ignore the kit and hope he got bored, two, give him basic answers or three, sit down with him for a bit of a story time. He settled on option three, getting comfortable against the wall of one of the old buildings. 

“I wasn’t always one of the good guys, I did a lot of bad things when I was younger. Then I met Zeb and he told me that these things were bad and that I should change. I didn’t want to at first, just like how you don’t want to tell your mother when you’ve gone to the market to buy sweets.” He began, settling the Lasat down on his lap so that he could pull out the meteorite he had saved from Bahryn. “And I keep this around to remind me that I need to keep being that good person and helping people. Zeb found this and gave it to me when I wasn’t good and then when I started to be a better person he invited me here.” It was a much simpler view of the entire story that he figured would be enough for a child to understand but also not hiding the truth of what he had done in the past. He still felt ashamed about what had happened on Lasan, and about not being able to help his crew on Onderon, but whenever the guilt reared it’s head there was a voice inside his head, Zeb’s voice, that reminded him of all of the good he had done since. Working as Fulcrum, multiple missions for the rebel alliance, saving more Lasat. It didn’t erase what had happened but he was doing more and more right now.   
“You left the bad people to come be with us?” The kit asked after a moment, playing with the meteorite, tossing it from hand to hand like a ball. “What about your friends?”  
Alexsandr couldn’t help but give a small smile at the innocence of the young. “I realised the people I was with then were not my friends. When Zeb went back to the Ghost everyone hugged him and was really happy to see him, like when you kits run out to see us when we come back from trips away. The people I was with didn’t even say hello to me. That’s how I knew.” 

“And being stuck on that planet was how I knew you were better than the rest of ‘em.” Zeb said, lifting the kit from Alex’s lap. “ I wanted him to come here so he could see what having a family is like properly, and so you lot could teach him more about fighting. Think it’s working?” The Lasat nodded and rested his head against Zeb’s shoulder, still playing with the meteorite. 

“Alex is family. He’s good now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This idea wouldn't leave me alone so I just had to get it written and published. The reviews have really inspired me to keep going and get this written quickly, so thank you to everyone commenting, kudosing and all of that. You guys have been amazing.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Kalluzeb fic so please feel free to hmu with any feedback, criticism is welcome.  
> All Lasana (the language the Lasat speak) comes from the amazing @anath_tsurugi


End file.
